1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to snow plows and, more specifically, to a snow plow having a removable guard attachment which prevents damage to soft, plowable surfaces such as gravel surfaces or grass and which protects against plow slap.
2. Description of the Related Art
Snow plows are well known in the art and generally include a plow blade mounted to a vehicle. The plow blade usually includes a blade edge which is brought into contact with the surface to be plowed. Snow plows commonly known in the art often employ shoes mounted to the plow blade and have feet which are adapted to ride in sliding contact with the surface to be plowed. The position of the feet relative to the plow blade may be adjusted to adjust the height of the plow blade relative to the surface to be plowed. In this way, the degree to which the blade edge scrapes the surface to be plowed may be controlled.
During the early part of the snow plow season, before the ground has sufficiently frozen and in the latter part of the season (which includes spring in some latitudes) where the ground has thawed sufficiently, the plow blade as well as shoes can get caught on the surface being plowed or can cause damage to adjacent areas. More specifically, on soft turf or non-frozen surfaces, the shoes can dig into such surfaces, causing ruts or causing the roadway or adjacent turf to be ripped up. Additionally, when the plow blade encounters a fixed obstruction in the surface to be plowed, this may cause the plow to rotate about a generally horizontal axis and can result in a phenomenon known as "plow slap" in the related art. Plow slap is highly detrimental to the life of the plow assembly and can even cause damage to the vehicle on which the plow is mounted.
Attempts have been made in the related art to overcome the disadvantages described above. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,710, issued to Haring on Jan. 3, 1989; U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,366, issued to Yost on Feb. 18, 1986 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,808,714, issued to Reissinger et al. on May 7, 1974 all disclose snow plow assemblies which include blade edges which rotate or are otherwise yieldable to obstructions presented in the surface to be plowed. However, each of the snow plow assemblies described in these patents involve relatively complex structures and multiple moving parts, all of which add cost to the assemblies.
Still other efforts have been made in the related art to overcome the difficulties discussed above. For example, it is known to weld or otherwise permanently affix a pipe to the blade edge of the plow as a means of avoiding damage to the surface to be plowed. However, this solution suffers from the disadvantage that once the ground has frozen, such measures are not needed and may even become counterproductive. Other attempts to removably mount the pipe to the blade via chains and other mechanisms have been cumbersome and less than satisfactory.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a snow plow which has a removable attachment which prevents damage to the surface to be plowed when it is soft and susceptible to such damage, which prevents plow slap and which may be removed when it is not needed such as when the surface has become frozen.